


plenty of phish in the sea

by atamascolily



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Crimes & Criminals, F/M, Flirting, Hacking, Humor, Online Dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:41:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27230683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atamascolily/pseuds/atamascolily
Summary: Ghent expects cons on the HoloNet, but this one intrigues him.
Relationships: Zakarisz Ghent/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5
Collections: Star Wars Rare Pairs 2020





	plenty of phish in the sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [virusq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/virusq/gifts).



> This fic is brought to you by the several hours of quasi-mandatory security training about phishing scams I did for work. 
> 
> While brainstorming for names for Space Tinder, I considered "Spunk" and "Spindr", but I decided to play it safe (or not) and go with "Kindler".

It took three hours for Ghent to slice into Zann Consortium's files and start downloading its contents for Karrde. The sheer volume of data involved meant that it was going to take all afternoon before the transfer was complete--leaving plenty of time for goofing off. 

There were plenty of other tasks he could run on parallel servers without compromising the transfer. Instead, Ghent logged into his Kindler profiles and began idly browsing the profiles recommended to them by their "high-end, deeply personalized" algorithm that was really just a shamble of code slapped together by idiots who didn't understand algorithms. He flipped through the automated suggestions, amused by what the program considered "compatible", when a particularly striking image caught his eye. 

It was a young human woman with pale, almost translucent skin, her long, blonde hair cascading down her back as she frolicked on a beach somewhere with very little clothing. That in itself was fairly typical for HoloNet sites Kindler, which tended to attract a younger audience intent on showing off its physical attractiveness in every way that wouldn't get them banned for violating the site's TOS. 

No, what caught his eye was the unapologetic way this particular woman stared at the camera. As if _she_ were the one scrutinizing him, and not the other way around. It was... unsettling. 

Intriguing, even. 

He glanced down at her profile data. Kestrel Dawn. "Sounds fake, but okay," he muttered. That wasn't suspicious in and of itself - a lot of people had names that looked stranger to his eyes, but were perfectly normal for their culture. But... 

Kestrel Dawn claimed to be a native of Corellia looking for quick hook-ups with no strings attached. Her hobbies included swimming, modeling, and long walks on the beach, blah, blah, blah. She expressed interest in meeting anyone, of any species, any gender, for any reason, or none at all me. "try me ;)" she'd concluded cheekily at the end of her profile. 

The perfect woman. Almost too good to be true. Which meant... 

Some quick digging confirmed his suspicions. There were no records of Kestrel Dawn's life outside of her Kindler profile, no corroborations that she even existed. Which made him wonder who--or what--she actually was, and what kind of scam she was pulling. 

Ghent frowned. It was a bad idea to reach out to her directly--it was probably a trap. He studied the photo again and corrected himself: _definitely_ a trap. He wasn't going to fall for something so obvious. 

But he had to admit he was curious. 

Ghent's own Kindler profile was bare-bones and entirely fake: a photo he'd lifted from a Spacebook account that didn't belong to him, either. He'd made this account as part of a data-gathering routine for another job six months earlier and never bothered to delete it. There was nothing in it that linked back to his real identity, no hints he wasn't the person he appeared to be. 

He tapped out a quick message for Kestrel Dawn in the Kindler messaging system: _You seem cool, wanna chat?_

He settled back, tapping his fingers against the console as he waited for a bite. It was important not to fantasize. But... 

_hey, there, handsome._

Now he _knew_ she was playing him. His profile picture was middle-of-the-road average. He didn't call her out on it. 

A back and forth developed. She kept pumping him for personal information - the same questions that he'd ask if he were running a scam of his own. He gave fake answers in accordance with his profile to keep her talking while he kept his eyes peeled for the inevitable twist. 

And right on cue, there it was - a link in her message, with an attached packet that would do very nasty things to his system if he were foolish enough to let it stick around. He deleted it, and started working on one of his long-term slicing projects in the background while he kept chatting with "Kestrel".

It wasn't until he went back to check on his download from the Zann Consortium that he realized there was an encrypt running in the background. An encrypt that would lock all the files when it was finished copying them. An encrypt _he_ hadn't written. 

Oh, _shit_.

Usually Ghent was the one running a ransomwear attack, not experiencing one, but he didn't hesitate. He jerked the power cable out of the wall and flung it across the room, gasping with relief as every single screen went dark. Safe. 

Ghent's heart pounded. still shaken by his close call. The data packet had been a decoy to keep him from finding the real one. If he hadn't caught it in time-- 

\--yeah, that would have been awkward to explain to Karrde, or anyone else, really. Not that he couldn't (eventually) crack any encrypt Kestrel put on his system, but it would have been a blow all the same. 

His download from the Zann Consortium was completely ruined and he was going to have to restart the whole job from scratch. Better than letting Kestrel Dawn get her hands on it, though. 

"Oh, she's _good_ ," Ghent mused aloud. "She played me like a noob. But I'll show her." 

First, though, he had to restart the Tyber Zann job and upgrade his security systems. Once that was finished, he started digging around for Kestrel's HoloNet root address. Locating that wasn't technically challenging, it just required lots of persistence, a little strategy and a healthy dose of luck. Only then was he ready to log back into Kindler and face Kestrel again. 

Her account had disappeared--presumably to keep people like him from tracking her down. But when he plugged in the root address he'd found, you know who _did_ show up? A woman named Liana Hallik, also of Corellia, with the exact same profile picture. Imagine that. 

"Sloppy, sloppy," Ghent chided. He opened the chat window and issued his challenge: _hi, kestrel._

He'd expected her to deny it, but her response was quick and furious: _who the fuck are you, and what do you want?_

i just wanna chat. I'm looking for friends, you know? maybe we can be friends? it says you're interested in making friends on your profile ;) 

_why are you following me, you creep?_

_i like to know who's scamming me and why._

Pause. He could imagine those piercing eyes boring straight into his soul. _can you blame me? a girl's gotta eat and most men think with their dicks._

 _I have it on reliable authority I'm not most men,_ Ghent said with complete and utter honesty. 

Raised eyebrow emoji. _any of these "authorities" female?_

 _some of them._ Aware he was rapidly losing credibility, he tried a different tack. _i like yr code. vry elegant. ransomware's cool. i mostly phish myself._

Whatever she'd been expecting, it wasn't that. _u phish, too?_

Gotcha. Ghent grinned. _a guy's gotta eat. ;)_

Pause. 

_you're interesting,_ she said at last. _do you really look like that?_

What did Aves always say? "Go big or go home?" Ghent decided to take refuge in audacity. _no. I'm hotter._

Another pause. 

_I'm willing to live with the mystery. let's talk some more._ A link to a private, off-site chat room appeared on the screen. _Assuming you trust me, of course_. 

Ghent grinned. Was her name really Liana Hallik? Was she even female? Was she aiming for an entirely different kind of con now? There was no way to tell. But Ghent had found a kindred spirit, and that was hot in and of itself. And in slicing, as in so many other areas of life, the thrill of the hunt was everything. 

He opened up a partition on his terminal, locking everything else into the secure section. Any viruses or malware that managed to get through his new firewalls would be stuck inside the partition, unable to access the main servers. He was pretty sure he and Liana were past the double-cross at this point in their relationship, but he wasn't going to bet his files on it. 

_it's a date_ , he typed, and clicked the link.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, this was going to be Ghent/Jyn, which is why all of the names are Jyn Erso's canon aliases, but then I realized that there's nothing really to mark Ghent's opponent as Jyn in the story, so I decided to make it an OC instead. That said, you can imagine it as Jyn if you want!


End file.
